Quinn pushing for merger of gov, lieutenant jobs

Faced with an unprecedented situation, Gov. Pat Quinn is asking lawmakers to officially let him merge his old job with his new one.

Eric Naing

Faced with an unprecedented situation, Gov. Pat Quinn is asking lawmakers to officially let him merge his old job with his new one.

House Democratic leaders are pushing House Bill 2494, which would let the governor assume all the duties and responsibilities of the lieutenant governor if the lower office becomes vacant. That happened on Jan. 29, when Rod Blagojevich became Illinois’ first governor to be impeached and removed from office.

House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, the Chicago Democrat pushing the measure, says it “was a suggestion by the new governor.” She said the act clarifies the hazily defined procedures in the state constitution for dealing with a vacancy in the lieutenant governor’s office.

“In most constitutional offices, if there’s a vacancy, there’s an appointment process, but there is not for the lieutenant governor,” she said.

Quinn spokesman Bob Reed said Quinn hopes the measure will become law “as quickly as feasibly possible” so that it could help “smooth” any wrinkles in his transition from lieutenant governor to governor.

“He felt that for continuity’s sake, there were some important issues that he wanted to keep and maintain now that he is governor,” Reed said.

Reed wouldn’t say whether the transition would be hampered if the state law change wasn’t made.

The Illinois Constitution says the lieutenant governor is supposed to perform the duties “delegated to him by the governor and that may be prescribed by law.” The only other constitutionally mandated responsibility of the lieutenant governor is to be second in the line of succession to the governor.

As lieutenant governor, Quinn was in charge of programs such as the Illinois River Coordinating Council, the Illinois Main Street Advisory Council, and Illinois Military Family Relief. He also maintained a staff of about two-dozen employees, and they are being moved to the governor’s offices in Springfield and Chicago.

Under the changes provided in Currie’s bill, Quinn could continue to head all these programs as governor or he could delegate the responsibility for them to a state agency, employee or officer.

Quinn also would have the authority to manage the employees at the lieutenant governor’s office. When the position of lieutenant governor is filled, all the powers and duties of the office would be returned.

The lieutenant governor’s office has been vacant before.

David O’Neil, who served as the lieutenant governor of Illinois from 1977 to 1982, resigned from his office after complaining that the job bored him. Bob Kustra left the post in 1998 to become a university president, and lawmakers gave the Department of Central Management Services temporary authority over the office while the seat was vacant then.

The House State Government Administration Committee could vote on the idea next week, and lawmakers seem receptive to it at this point.

Rep. Jack Franks, a Marengo Democrat who heads the committee, said the measure “makes sense” and will help the state more easily deal with any possible vacancies in the lieutenant governor’s office.

“If, God forbid, we’re in a similar situation in the future, we won’t have to worry about that,” he said.

Republican Rep. Raymond Poe of Springfield, a member of Franks’s committee, said it is important for the responsibilities of the lieutenant governor to continue on.

“The lieutenant governor did a lot of things behind the scenes that people don’t realize,” Poe said. “He worked with the veterans, Illinois rivers and more of those kinds of things.”

Currie wants to solve this transition issue quickly and believes that her colleagues in both parties do as well.

“I don’t think anybody would want those responsibilities left dangling,” she said.